Kawaguchiko (Mt. Fuji) (Day 10)

We started early. Went to Shinjuku to take the express train to Otsuki to transfer to another train to Kawaguchiko. The train from Otsuki to Kawaguchiko costs ¥1,620. You can buy the ticket from a machine near the station office.

Upon arriving in Kawaguchiko, we walked to Kachi Kachi Ropeway Entrance which was about 15 minutes walk, 20 minutes for us since we took lot of pictures along the way and also we were walking so carefully. Too many snow and ice on the road.

The ropeway costs about ¥1500, and it was worth it. The view is magnificent. Plus Fuji-san didn't hide from us. It was a cloudless day with a clear view of Kawaguchiko.

There's a photo booth there. You can get the post card for free while the bigger photo is ¥1000. What we did was to asl for copies of the post card for ¥100 each. The idea is to send it to our friends.

We had lunch in a restaurant near the Kachi Kachi Ropeway Entrance. It was nice place with free wifi, though very unstable.

After which, we went back to Kawaguchiko Station so they can take a cab to Fujiten Snow Resort to ski. Roms and I went to Kubota Itchiku Musem and then head to the onsen at the back of the museum. There was no other person inside the the ladies' onsen, so I was able to enjoy about 30 minutes before I find the water too hot.

We went back to Tokyo around 7 pm and reached Shinjuku about after 9 pm and had dinner there. My friends are to leave the next day so we need to go back as early as possible.

It was a fantastic day. They were able to ski and I was able to try onsen. An experience of firsts for all of us.

Kanazawa (Day 9)

I didn't get to explore Kanazawa as I met with my former manager.

In the morning, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Kenroku-en. One of the three most beautiful garden in Japan. We had breakfast in one on the cafe there. Afterwards, I left while they go and explore Kenroku-en and Kanazawa Castle Park.

There's a loop bus from Kanazawa Station. You can take either the right loop or left loop bus. You won't miss the stop as there's an announcement on the monitor on board.

As we have agreed to leave Kanazawa early to have an ample time to shop in Tokyo. We left Kanazawa at around 1:30 pm. We took the old way to go to Tokyo, the via Echigo-Yuzawa one, which took almost 5 hours. But if you are going after 15th of March, 2015, you are so much blessed as there's a new shinkansen for the Tokyo-Kanzawa route for just 2.5 hours.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, we split. Malou and Dref went to Odaiba, Roms went off to meet some friends while teJing, Joy, Kuya Aris and I went to Akihabara. If you are going to Akihabara, go there early, shops close quite early.

Takayama - Shirakawa-go (Day 8)

Shirakawa-go was not part of the original itinerary until the day that someone posted (Visit Japan) in Facebook about places to go to during winter. And in all of the places, Shirakawa-go is the most feasible place to go as we will be coming from either Osaka or Tokyo.

To go to Shirakawa-go, you must go to Takayama first (or Kanazawa). From Tokyo, take shinkansen to Nagoya then transfer to Limited Express Hida Wide View to Takayama.Or, with the new shinkansen line to Kanazawa (starting March 15), take that instead for a shorter trip. If coming from Osaka, there's a limited express train to Kanazawa as well or take the shinkansen to Nagoya and transfer for Takayama. Either coming from Takayama or Kanazawa, there is a bus operating and you may find the time table at Japan Guide web site. 

Well, I suggest what we did. We arrived in Takayama by noon, had lunch and walked around and took around 1 million pictures then went to Shirakawa-go by 3 pm. The light up starts at 5:30 pm and the last bus departing Shirakawa-go is at 5:20 pm. So because we want to see the light up, we arranged for a van months before. Hato Taxi is by far the cheapest I found. So yeah, after the light up which was at 7 pm, we headed to Kanazawa instead of going back to Takayama. I know that 3 hours in Takayama is not enough to enjoy the place and explore the Old Town, hence it is already on my list of places to return to.

Disneyland and Odaiba (Day7)

This was a free day for us. We all went wherever we we want to go. For Dref and I, we went to Disneyland then to Odaiba. For Jing, Aris and Joy, they went to Shinjuku, Shibuya and Harajuku then met up with us in Odaiba. Malou and Roms met with their respective friends.

Sad to say, I didn't enjoy Disneyland as much as I enjoyed USJ. Or maybe because we're not sure on how the system works. Plus the fact that the  parade was cancelled due to wind. That was big let down. Anyway, it's easy to get there. Just get to Maihama station, it's a JR line so if you are coming from near the Yamanote line, it will be easy to transfer trains.

By 4 pm, we left Disneyland and went to Odaiba. There is a shorter way to go to Odaiba from Disneyland but I opted to go back to Tokyo to go to Shimbashi to take the Yurikamome Line to Odaiba. Apparently, the view going there is a nice experience too. But  unfortunately, there was nothing on the day we went.

My friends said that it's way cheaper in Odaiba than in Shinjuku (I surmised much), and Dref said that H&M there is cheaper than in Manila. So, 3 hours and a thousand shopping bags later (all were Dref's), we went back to the hostel with a decision that we shall go back to Tokyo from Kanazawa a lot earlier than planned.

By the way, while they were shopping, I was in McDonald's having my dinner while connecting to the free wifi of the next door shop.